Dead? It still has the largest install base. No longer produced because the Wii U does everything it does and dead are VERY different.

Only the ones as petty as that fish guy.

but... but......Iwata said "quality of life product are coming!"?!

The original wii isn't dead and Minecraft is fully possible on the original wii. Nintendo are absolutely mad not to keep developing major games for this established format. Skylanders swap force sold over 6x as many copies on wii than wii u last year. Disney Infinity sold more on wii than any other format and 3x as much as wii u.

I just don't get why the wii isn't being actively developed for.

I think MInecraft is exactly the sort of game that would sell well on wii.

Nintendo seem utterly clueless at the moment. Yes they need to push the wii u but if they stop providing contact with wii users by abandoning online functionality or not releasing any games how are they going to keep in contact with wii owners who may upgrade. Lets not forget there is good money to be made from the wii still. Surely Nintendo like money?

So my opinion it is Nintendo themselves who are to blame for a lot of issues. Nintendo are notorious for making third party development on their consoles difficult. Excessive royalty costs and many other issues.

Also many publishers and developers simply do not have projects for such weak hardware with regard wii and wii u. Even though the wii was hugely successful it simply didn't get a lot of games as it wasn't capable of running them. Many publishers and developers are moving away from 360 and PS3 now and that also means wii u is left behind as its of a similar performance level.

So I don't believe it's spite its almost entirely Nintendo's own fault.

It's not spite. 3rd parties, particularly AAA and Western ones, simply happen to view 1st party developers like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft as potential competitors. How can EA be the #1 video game company in the world if Nintendo is at the #1 spot? The answer is simple: do everything in your power to weaken the competition. It's easier to let competitors die than work with them, so 3rd parties like aligning with platforms with pathetic 1st party support.

Hence, we see a hierarchy:

*Wii U: Huge 1st Party (The Wii U has already had multiple sequels to some of the best-selling games of all time),but Minimal 3rd Party Support (Besides indie-type games, which Nintendo generally relies on 2nd parties for)
*3DS: Big 1st Party (Not quite Wii U scale, but close), Poor 3rd Party Support (The 3DS hasn't had a non-FIFA EA game since 2011 for example)
*Xbox and PlayStation: OK 1st Party (but not enough to dominate the best-selling games on the systems), OK 3rd party support (hundreds of titles, including a bulk of AAA support)
*PC's and Mobile Devices: Poor 1st Party (Basically none), AWESOME 3rd party support (A vast majority of games released commercially)

If Nintendo wanted to get as many big 3rd party games as they got during, say, the GameCube era, they ought to make underwhelming games like they did back from 2001 to 2004. Of course, even Nintendo's subpar games (and Melee) ended up dominating the GameCube, so finding a strategy where they don't have to rely on their competitors is likely a good idea.

I see it as two problems: Japanese companies don't want to make console video games at all any more; and Nintendo doesn't know how to market themselves to Western companies. (It takes a lot more than having the best designed console or even the best sales figures. You have to get on a plane and go convince them, and it has to be well in advance of final hardware)

Have you compared third party sales of games on the Vita and 3DS? How about (the relative) development costs for both platforms? (although this is less important).

Again, evidence suggests that this is not the sole determining factor. Far from it.

To some extent, but I get the impression that Nintendo isn't interested in trying to appeal to the 3rd parties.